


Thicker Than Water

by PrincessAddieJ



Category: Labyrinth (1986)
Genre: Addie - Freeform, megan - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-08
Updated: 2016-10-08
Packaged: 2018-08-20 07:42:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8241671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrincessAddieJ/pseuds/PrincessAddieJ
Summary: Addie doesn't usually mind that she's adopted, but sometimes she only wants to belong. Is that so much to ask?





	

**Author's Note:**

> For those of you unaware, here's a quick "family tree" of the Spéir clan: 
> 
> Jareth - Megan (married)
> 
> Taliesen (Jareth's son)
> 
> Adelaide (Jareth's daughter/Megan's adopted daughter)
> 
> Luna (Jareth and Megan's daughter)
> 
> Soon-to-be Twins (Jareth and Megan's boys)
> 
> I hope that clears things up a bit!

“Daddy . . . How powerful is your magic?”

The question hung heavy in the air as Jareth waited to answer. He met the Princess’s eyes, and she was sure he knew why she was asking. Though the subject had been brought up before – many times – and all but danced around in the recent days, Adelaide had not found any solace in answers given thus far. She hoped beyond hope with a knowing feeling deep in her stomach that this time things would be different. Yet the look in her father’s mismatched eyes told her it would be exactly the same.

“. . . Depends.” He strung the word out, making it last as long as possible to delay the inevitable. “Why do you ask?”

“I don’t want to be the oddball anymore. I want to belong.”

Her blunt words physically shocked the Goblin King, causing him to take the slightest step back. She could tell he had seen the problem coming – a blind goblin with no sense of direction could have seen it coming – but Addie had never before been so blunt about it. The words themselves didn’t even sound like she was speaking them. They were too brave. Too honest. She wasn’t sure it was even her talking for a moment.

“. . . But you do belong,” Jareth told her softly, not trusting his own voice. And in truth, Addie didn’t blame her father. If that was the best he could think to say to his eldest daughter in her dark time of desperation, she herself would not have been able to speak confidently either.

“Not to both of you.”

That seemed to leave Jareth completely at a loss. His pink lips turned down at the corners as he stared back at his daughter’s imploring eyes. They reflected the pain in his own features at his inability to come up with something suitable to calm his precious treasure. At his side, the Queen did her best to soothe Addie.

“But you do,” she said confidently. “You may be adopted to me, but that’s fine with me. In fact, it makes our relationship special, don’t you think?”

Yes, in the way that I don’t feel like I even belong to my own mother. How special, Momma. How truly special our relationship is.

“Plus, what would Lorelai think?” Jareth inquired, the pain still clear on his angular face.

“I don’t care what she thinks,” the Princess countered without a thought, “I would still be hers in a way, too. I just . . . I want this.” Addie wished she had better words, but in her nerves and sadness, her usually proficient vocabulary failed her completely, and she could only pour emotion into the last words, hoping that her momma and daddy would feel it and understand. They stared at each other for a brief moment, sharing a look of concern that was unreadable to the Princess, before Megan kneeled down to meet her daughter’s eyes.

“Why do you feel like an oddball?”

Why do you have to ask?!

“Because Tali is hardly ever around, and when the twins are born I’ll be the only one that doesn’t fit.”

And it was true, at least, in Addie’s mind it was. Taliesen was her older brother and she loved him dearly, if only because she felt he truly understood her and his company was very pleasant, but he rarely visited anymore. She didn’t blame him. He was finally able to spend time with the man – horse? – he loved more than anything and the two wanted to be together as freely and as often as possible. But without him – heck, even with him most days – Addie could hardly shake the feeling of being the odd man out. The Queen was her mother, undoubtedly so, but she was the only one of Megan’s children who did not legitimately belong to her. It stung more and more the more Addie thought about it, though she tried desperately not to.

“But you do fit.” Megan was adamant. “Why do you think you don’t? Blood is just blood. It doesn’t matter if it’s my blood or Lorelai’s blood coursing through your veins. We’re both still your mother.”

But it matters to me!

“I don’t know . . . It just feels wrong. Has nothing ever felt wrong to you?”

The Queen shook her head, her blonde hair falling about her face as she breathed a simple, “No.”

Addie felt heartbreak seep into her bones. This was the end-all be-all of all the conversations they would ever have about this subject. Her parents would never understand. She couldn’t make them feel how desperate she was to be a part of their family in such a way. She took a step back from Megan.

“Then maybe I’m more messed up than I thought. Just forget I said anything.”

The Princess turned to walk away from the both of them, when a deceptively strong hand gripped the top of her arm and pulled her back. Her mother wrapped her up tight in a hug, pressing her close enough that Addie could smell the lavender from the gardens on Megan’s dress. It calmed her slightly, but the girl could not find the strength to hug back.

“No you’re not! Adoption feels natural to me because it’s all I’ve ever known. I don’t feel anything wrong with you, but for most of my life I have felt wrong with Nana and Papa. My whole family, in fact.” An image came up without permission to Addie, one of her mother’s parents – Nana and Papa – of their smiling faces and their warm hugs. How could they ever make anyone feel wrong?

“They’d point out how different I was as if it were a good thing, but it wasn’t. I felt like I stuck out, that I was some big ugly mistake on a beautiful painting.” You are not ugly or a mistake, Momma. You are the beautiful color artists add to dull art that makes them masterpieces.

“I hated that I didn’t look like either of my parents, because my friends could say that they looked like their mom, or they had their dad’s eyes, but I had no similarities to my parents. People would even lie and say that I looked like them, but I don’t!” Oh, you mean how Daddy tells me you and I are so alike, yet it is clearly a lie?

“I never have and I never will! I can’t tell you how happy I was when I finally got that scrapbook from Joye and saw that I looked just like someone else. But that didn’t erase the fact that my parents were still my parents. They are the ones that raised me, the ones that have given me so much and loved me unconditionally. Me, a child who has brought so much confusion and frustration, a child that can’t be normal no matter how hard I try, a child that has screwed up over and over again, but they still love me, they will always see me as their daughter.” Okay, maybe you understand that feeling.

“I belong to them because they chose me. They wanted me. They needed me. Just as we chose you. We wanted you. We needed you. Just the way you are. Are you unique?” Weird. “Yes, but that is something special, something to be proud of because you were you and we loved you even before we knew that Daddy was your real father. We have always loved you. Even before we met you we loved the idea of a daughter no matter where she came from.”

At this point, the sadness Addie had felt take over her entire body had melted into the only emotion she was really good at feeling: anger. She couldn’t put her finger on exactly why it was making her mad at the moment, regardless, it was. And she was powerless to stop it. Instead, the Princess looked down at her shoes and in a low voice said,

“Okay.”

The Queen was not convinced.

“. . . . What else is it?” She pressed, concern coloring her voice like it was made by Crayola.

Addie shook her head, still considering her sneakers. “Nothing.”

“Please don’t shut me out, sweetheart.”

Don’t call me that. I like the names you call me and I don’t want to like it right now. I want to be mad at you, damn it.

“It doesn’t matter,” Addie said calmly through tight lips. “You don’t understand. Now let me go, I do not want to be touched anymore.”

It’s a lie! It’s a stupid lie from a coward who just wants to be held! But if you hold on much longer I’ll just cry and I can’t cry anymore!

“I’m sorry,” Megan said, her green eyes welling fast with unshed tears.

It was then that Addie could contain herself no longer. She wanted more than anything to cry, but she knew herself too well, and if she started now, she would cry until she broke, and it would never stop. Anger was better. Anger was easier. Anger didn’t hurt as much.

“It’s fine. You’re right. Blood doesn’t matter.” Her voice began to rise beyond her control. “It doesn’t matter that my blood has NEVER been right! Not when I was Dimmitri’s kid, not when I’m Lorelai’s kid, not even now that I’m Dad’s bastard kid! It doesn’t matter! Blood doesn’t matter because I’ll still be wrong! I didn’t want your blood in me anyway because IT DOESN’T MATTER!”

It was the biggest, hardest lie the Princess had ever told, and it ripped open the empty spot inside her until her entire body threatened to tear her to pieces from the inside out. She couldn’t bear to look at either of her parent’s faces. She didn’t want to see the pain on their faces and feel the guilt. She didn’t deserve the guilt. Guilt meant crying, and crying meant comfort. Comfort and hugs and kisses and assurance that everything was fine and she was still loved beyond imagination. No, Addie did not deserve any of that. So she walked away without looking back.


End file.
